Financial Entanglements

My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor[a]
or entered into an agreement with[b] a stranger,(A)
you have been snared by the words of your mouth—
trapped by the words from your mouth.
Do this, then, my son, and free yourself,
for you have put yourself in your neighbor’s power:
Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor.
Don’t give sleep to your eyes
or slumber to your eyelids.(B)
Escape like a gazelle from a hunter,[c]
like a bird from a hunter’s trap.[d](C)

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Footnotes

  1. 6:1 Or friend
  2. 6:1 Lit or slapped hands for
  3. 6:5 Lit hand
  4. 6:5 Lit hand

Warnings Against Folly

My son,(A) if you have put up security(B) for your neighbor,(C)
    if you have shaken hands in pledge(D) for a stranger,
you have been trapped by what you said,
    ensnared by the words of your mouth.
So do this, my son, to free yourself,
    since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:
Go—to the point of exhaustion—[a]
    and give your neighbor no rest!
Allow no sleep to your eyes,
    no slumber to your eyelids.(E)
Free yourself, like a gazelle(F) from the hand of the hunter,(G)
    like a bird from the snare of the fowler.(H)

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 6:3 Or Go and humble yourself,

15 If someone puts up security for a stranger,
he will suffer for it,(A)
but the one who hates such agreements is protected.

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15 Whoever puts up security(A) for a stranger will surely suffer,
    but whoever refuses to shake hands in pledge is safe.(B)

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18 One without sense enters an agreement[a]
and puts up security for his friend.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 17:18 Lit sense slaps hands

18 One who has no sense shakes hands in pledge
    and puts up security for a neighbor.(A)

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16 Take his garment,
for he has put up security for a stranger;
get collateral if it is for foreigners.(A)

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16 Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger;
    hold it in pledge(A) if it is done for an outsider.(B)

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The rich rule over the poor,(A)
and the borrower is a slave to the lender.(B)

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The rich rule over the poor,
    and the borrower is slave to the lender.

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26 Don’t be one of those who enter agreements,[a]
who put up security for loans.(A)
27 If you have nothing with which to pay,
even your bed will be taken from under you.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 22:26 Lit Don’t be among hand slappers

Saying 4

26 Do not be one who shakes hands in pledge(A)
    or puts up security for debts;
27 if you lack the means to pay,
    your very bed will be snatched from under you.(B)

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13 Take his garment,
for he has put up security for a stranger;
get collateral if it is for foreigners.[a](A)

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Footnotes

  1. 27:13 Lit a foreign woman

13 Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger;
    hold it in pledge if it is done for an outsider.(A)

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